Triple Delight
My maternal grandfather was a son of Scotland, hard-working, stoic, but passionate for the old country, and very thrifty. As his progeny, I find myself quite delighted at this Trinity we are celebrating. First and foremost, where else can you get three divine persons for the price of one? Grandad would appreciate that bargain. He would also understand the simple and intricate nuances of the mind of a Creator who rather than overpower us (being the being who is all being), delivers us three unique approaches to the incomprehensible Oneness.
With realms too deep for my gray matter to navigate, our thriced deity has occupied the crania of theologians for centuries. This is a good thing since we could have an even more uneasy existence with profound, restless intellects wandering around looking for something to occupy them. On the other hand, being the quintessential Artist, God has also imbued this three-fold self portrait with unadorned images of a father, son, and spirit, imminently approachable by even the most theologically and spiritually challenged like yours truly at the keyboard.
When I have been estranged from those who bore me and bore with me during my sprouting years, what is more convenient and comforting than a Divine Parent who listens so well? In the many times I have failed to be a dutiful and loving offspring, I needed only to connect with the Divine Child to learn what it means to truly love and give one’s whole being to those who gave me being. And what about those dark days when even loneliness would have been preferable to the emptiness experienced inside and out—the feeling that there was no one who knew the icy isolation of being one who knew nothing, not even himself. Was there not that subtle, nagging assurance that this was a taste of the Spirit of the One who was alone before there was a beginning—the One who crafted a good but flawed image to destroy the void and fill it with love?
We are essentially trinitarian replicas, creating our world, speaking and living our word, and leaving in our wake a spirit of the Lord who has provided the spark for our prairie fires. Our choice is so elementary: take the raw materials we are gifted with, and build a seemingly impregnable castle to hide in, or use what we have and what we are, to become one with all who are part of the magnum opus that the Father composes, the Son teaches, and the Spirit is pointing out to us, even when we are unknowingly stumbling through the darkness. We have three connections to the Ultimate Reality—three pathways to learn what it is to be one with that One who is what is. When we meet God in whoever or wherever or whatever, we meet ourselves and discover the true power of love.
